Resort Hopping 101 – Animal Kingdom Safari Hop

One of our focuses on the website the past few months has been Quick Tips. We like to prepare you for the parks and offer up tips and tricks to making your vacation more enjoyable.

If case you missed our last Resort Hopping 101 ‘s check them out Monorail Express, and the Epcot Area Ferry Hop. Today I want to talk to you about something outside the DisneyWorld Theme Parks and that is the Disney World Resorts, specifically the Animal Kingdom Area Resorts.

For those people who drove to Walt Disney World or have a rental car this is an easy Resort Hop. If you are like most people who fly there this Resort Hop is going to require you to ride the buses.

Transportation issues aside this resort hop has the most variety and is great for pictures. So lets get started..

Resorts

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Cornado Springs Resort

All Star Movies

All Star Music

All Star Sports

I was trying to think of a theme for today’s Resort Hop so since we are in the Animal Kingdom area we are calling this a Safari Hop. So grab your safari hat and boots as we swing right in.

The best way to use today’s Resort Hop is to use Animal Kingdom as your base of operation. The buses to Animal Kingdom generally are light and all the buses are compacted in a nice area. With today’s resort hop we like to spread it out over a couple of days so what we normally do is go to the Animal Kingdom for the day. We find the 9am-5pm park hours works very well for this.

Day 1

Usually we like to leave after the Mickey Jammin Jungle Parade. That gives us a little time before we eat dinner to cruise around the resort and work up an even bigger appetite (as if walking around AK wasn’t enough)

About 99% of the time we have our ADR for Boma as its easily one of my favorite places to eat at WDW. So we head off to the Cornado Springs first. The CSR is beautiful, just walking around the lake is so serene. Be prepared to do some walking if you want to check out the whole resort. If you don’t feel like walking just stay around the main area, but if you don’t mind the walk be sure to walk over to the Dig Site. Check out a map of the resort here.

So after some window shopping its time to jump back in the car or bus and make your way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. If your going by bus you will have to go to DAK first then to AKL. This is where leaving the park early comes into play. If you taking the bus be sure to watch your time if its to late your going to have to bus hop from Epcot to the AKL.

When you arrive at the Animal Kingdom Lodge be prepared to be amazed. I remember walking into the resort for the first time and was just in awe of how beautiful the inside of the resort is. Take your time and walk around. Sit in the comfy lobby chairs.

If I could move into a resort and live there is would be it. It is breath taking just to walk the grounds. You can easily spend hours walking around this resort. We were fortunate on our last trip to do that as our little one passed out in the stroller..To bad she missed out on the animals in the savanna.

If your not eating anywhere at this resort be sure to still check out the restaurants. Usually if you ask the hostess you want to take some pictures or look at the food they don’t mind.

The best article I have read with the most info on the Animal Kingdom Lodge comes from Allears. Check out the link here to learn more about the resort.

The attention to detail is phenomenal so TAKE YOUR TIME! Explore and just take in all the sights, sounds, and smells.

Day 2

The best thing about the All Star Resorts is they are all together. The worst thing is they all share the same buses. So depending on your situation and what resort you want to check out will determine how long of a bus ride you have so have patience. Most times we just go in order Sports, Music, and then Movies.

Walking around the resorts have fun taking pictures, exploring, and playing with all the fun things on site. You can get real creative with the pictures if you have a good imagination.

The three resorts are no where near the size of a moderate resort so you can easily do all three in a few hours depending on transportation.

Normally we use this day to kill time till our dinner ADR, or its something fun to do after dinner if you didn’t want to go back to another park.

So that concludes this weeks Resort Hopping 101. I hope you enjoy Safari Hopping as much as my family and I do. Stay tuned next time as I discuss the Lights Camera Action Hop.

If you have anything little tips or suggestions on things to do and see at these resorts be sure to let us know in the comment section below.

Thank you for visiting Chip and Co - Your home for the best in Disney News!

Chip C is owner of Chip and Co - Your source for Disney Park News, Planning Tips, Giveaways, and More. When he is not writing about Disney News, or Planning Tips, you will find him counting down the days to his next Disney Vacation.